Russia says reduction of diplomatic staff in Moldova will harm interests of Russians, Moldovans

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned Wednesday that a reduction of its diplomatic presence in Moldova would harm the interests of Russians and Moldovan citizens.

Zakharova pointed out that more than 200,000 Russians live in Moldova while the Moldovan diaspora in Russia amounts to 500,000 people.

She noted Moscow decides the number of diplomats working in an embassy of a certain country based on the level of bilateral cooperation and volume of tasks that arise.

"The Russian side is interested in expanding and strengthening these ties with the friendly Moldovan people based on the principles of mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs. Based on this, the current size of the Russian Embassy in Chisinau is absolutely justified," she said.

Moldovan authorities, on the contrary, are pursuing "a course to destroy Russian-Moldovan relations and complicate humanitarian ties between the peoples of our countries," according to her assessment.

Zakharova said the initiative to reduce the staff at the embassy in Chisinau is "from the same series."

"At the same time, Moldovan officials are already showing their usual double standards in this matter. Speaking about the 'parity' of the number of employees of diplomatic missions, they mean only the Russian Embassy in Moldova. There is no question of reducing the number of diplomatic missions of Western countries – Romania, Great Britain or the US," she said.

Zakharova characterized Moldovan authorities as “destructive and hypocritical," arguing that they are "ignoring the opinion and interests" of Moldovans.

"We call on the Moldovan authorities to finally listen to their own citizens and stop taking actions for the sake of the collective West that cause nothing but misunderstanding and protest among their own people," she said.